BUSI 240 Week 7 Discussion Board Forum 4 Thread Example

Discussion Board Forum 4 Thread: Transformational Leadership

BUSI 240 Organizational Behavior and Management, Discussion Board Forum 4 Thread

Thread by [Student Name]

The supervisor example is a composite; the textbook, book and study cited are real, and textbook locations are given by chapter.

The key term I chose is transformational leadership, which McShane and Von Glinow (2015, ch. 12) describe as a leadership perspective that explains how leaders change teams or organizations by creating, communicating and modeling a vision and inspiring employees to strive for it. The idea is often traced to Bass (1985), who distinguished leaders who transform followers' goals from leaders who exchange rewards for performance.

Four kinds of behavior make up the approach. With idealized influence, the leader's own conduct sets the example people trust. Inspirational motivation means communicating an appealing vision and high expectations. Through intellectual stimulation, the leader invites people to challenge how things have always been done. Finally, individualized consideration has the leader coaching each person according to that person's needs. The transactional style works differently, trading rewards for results: it sets targets, pays off when they are hit and steps in when they are not (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015, ch. 12).

The evidence is strong but more balanced than leadership books suggest. Pooling 87 studies, Judge and Piccolo (2004) found the transforming style closely tied to how satisfied followers were with their leader, how motivated they felt and how effective the leader was judged to be. Contingent reward, the core transactional behavior, was nearly as strongly related to the same outcomes. Laissez-faire leadership, in which the leader avoids decisions and stays absent, was negatively related to them. The research does not show that inspiring leaders can skip the basics; it shows that skipping leadership altogether is what does the damage.

A composite example makes the difference concrete. Two supervisors run the day and night shifts on the same production line. The day supervisor sets clear weekly targets, recognizes the crew when they are met and addresses problems quickly. The night supervisor does the same but also explains how the line's output supports a new hospital contract, asks operators for ideas to reduce downtime and checks in with a new operator who is struggling. Both shifts meet their targets, but the night shift suggests more improvements and loses fewer people. The day supervisor is a good transactional leader; the night supervisor adds transformational behaviors on top of that foundation.

That is the main lesson I take from the term. Bass (1985) saw the transforming style as something layered on top of the exchange-based style, not a substitute for it. Followers still need clear goals and fair rewards, and vision without them can feel empty. The research supports this order of priorities: a supervisor who is absent or avoids decisions does the most harm, a supervisor who sets clear expectations and rewards results covers much of the ground, and a supervisor who also inspires and develops people adds the remaining edge. For a new manager, that means mastering the transactional basics first and building transformational habits on top of them.

Which kind of leader have you responded to best, and did that leader combine both styles?

References

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press.

Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 755-768. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.755

McShane, S. L., & Von Glinow, M. A. (2015). Organizational behavior: Emerging knowledge, global reality (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.